TRANSACTIONS OF THE SECTIONS. 75 



On the White Lias of Dorsetshire. By Dr. T. "Weight, F.R.S.E., KG.S. 



In this paper the author showed that the tenuAMiite Lias, as used by Buckland, 

 Smith, De la Beche and others, required a more con-ect definition than had been 

 ffiven to it hitherto, as it inchided beds of a light colour, which belonged to two 

 distiiict zones of life ; the upper half consisted of light-coloured lias beds, with 

 Ammonites 2)lano7-bis and Ostrea Hassictr, forming- the zone oi Ammonites 2}l(i>iorbis, 

 whilst the lower portion of the White Ijias was composed of a series of light-coloured 

 concretionary limestones, having a rubbly character in parts, with a conchoidal 

 fracture. These thick beds were at Up-Lyme, Axminster, and Pinhav Bay from 

 20 to 25 feet in thickness, and contained a great number of small shells in the form 

 of moulds : Pecten valoniensis, Axinus modiola, and CarcUmn rhcetinnn had been 

 foimd in them at Up-Lyme. Dr. Wright considered this lower portion of the 

 "White Lias belonged to the Avicula contorta beds, or infra-lias of some Continental 

 authors, as no true lias fossil shells were found in it. He had correlated these beds 

 with some of the upper beds of the Avicida contorta series, at Garden Cliif and Aust 

 Cliff, on the Severn, and at Penarth, Glamorganshire, and he had come to the con- 

 clusion that the concretionaiy White Lias at the base of the Pinhay Bay section 

 must be considered as the upper portion of the Avicula contorta series. 



BOTANY AND ZOOLOGY, ikoluding PHYSIOLOGY. 



Address by Dr. J. E. Gray, President of the Section. 



Befork entering upon the special business for which the Section has been called 

 together, viz. the consideration of the Reports to be presented upon various zoolo- 

 gical and botanical subjects, and the reading of the papers submitted by the 

 members, I should wish to make a few general observations on some topics which 

 appear to me to have an important bearing on the science which we study, in the 

 hope that they may elicit some observations from the members present. I have 

 always felt that one of the most important uses of the Association was the bringing 

 together of so large a body of men engaged in kindred pm-suits, and the consequent 

 promotion of fi-ee personal intercourse between those who, not inhabiting the same 

 locality or even the same country, were scarcely likely to meet except on such an oc- 

 casion as the present. In such meetings the free interchange of thought by means of 

 oral communication is most valuable ; for it is in this way that facts are most 

 readily brought into notice, and opinions most freely canvassed, that truth is most 

 effectually elicited, and that erroneous or cmde ideas are dissipated, con-ected, and 

 improved. 



Some of my predecessors in this ofBce have given a summary resume of the 

 recent progi-ess of science in the departments over which I ha^e now the honoiu- 

 to preside, and I had at first thought of attempting to follow their example ; but I 

 find myself precluded from so doing by the conviction that, in order to be of any 

 real utility, such a Eeport shoidd be of much greater length and fidness of detail 

 than the time at our disposal woidd fairly admit for the reading, or than the few 

 weeks which have elapsed since I was requested to undertake the office would 

 allow of my preparing. This is, however, the less to be regretted, inasmuch as, 

 in the com-se of each year, a body of laborious and talented German professors are 

 in the habit of preparing a very fidl and complete Report of this nature for the 

 Berlin ' .Aj'chives of Natm-al Ilistoiy,' after a plan similar to that which I myself 

 commenced, more than forty years ago, in Thomson's 'Annals of Philosophy.' I 

 have therefore abandoned all intention of attempting such a review, and proceed at 

 once to speak of subjects having a more general bearing upon the interests of our 

 science. 



I should wish to say a few words on the subject of Public Museums. It may be 

 imagined that, having the whole of my life been intimately connected with the 

 management of what I believe to be at the present day the most important zoolo- 

 gical museum in the world, it is a subject that has long and deeply occupied my 



